Krakow is noted for
it's wonderfully preserved original Old Town, containing
dozens of magnificent churches, and for the amazing Wawel
Royal Castle and Cathedral, possibly the most significant
single site in Poland. Also not to be missed is the old
Jewish area of Kazimierz, where several significant
Jewish buildings have survived although the Jewish
population hasn't. A little further afield are a couple
of day-trips you can make from Krakow which I went on.

Krakow Old Town is laid
out in a fairly regular grid pattern, with the Town
Square at its heart, and bounded on all sides by the Platny
Park, which follows the line of the old
defensive walls and moat. The park itself is dotted with
various statues and memorials and makes a pleasant
afternoon's walk, or a nice place to sit down with a beer
and a book.

Krakow's Central
Square, the Rynek Glowny, is the largest
and most impressive of its kind in Poland. It is also
home to what is, reputedly, Europe's second largest
pigeon population after St Mark's Square in Venice. As in
Trafalgar Square in London you can come here and watch
frisky pigeons crawling over excited young children (I'm
sure there's scope for a pay-to-view website in there
somewhere....). Apart from the pigeons there's plenty of
other interesting things in the Rynek.

Standing in the middle
of the square is the Cloth Hall
(Sukiennice), originally built as a covered market the
present building dates from the mid-16th century, with
some 19th century additions (the arched galleries down
either side). It's an attractive renaissance building
that looks particularly impressive when lit-up at night.
The ground floor of the Cloth Hall has now returned to
its original function and now houses an decent collection
of market stalls selling all kinds of high-quality
tourist tat, including amber, jewelry, hand-carved wood,
chess sets, lace, and various other bits of arts and
crafts. People who know more about this kind of thing
than me tell me that the amber jewelry is particularly
good value for money. The arcades down the outside of the
Cloth Hall now mostly hold cafes, as well as a tourist
information centre.

On the first floor is a
department of Krakow's National Museum, the Gallery
of 19th Century Polish Painting and Sculpture,
which holds some paintings by Poland's best-known 19th
century artist (within Poland at least) Jan Matejko. The
gallery is closed on Mondays.

The most imposing
building on the Rynek is the towering, brick St
Mary's Basilica (Kosciol Mariacki) on the
eastern edge of the square. Construction on this church
started in the 14th century, on the foundations of an
earlier church. You can see how the walls of the church
start about a metre below the current ground level of the
square, showing how the level of the square has risen
over the centuries. The outside of the church is
impressive enough, with its tall (but uneven) pair of
towers (70 and 80 metres high respectively), each of
which has totally over the top baroque decorative spires
on top. The taller tower, imaginatively called "The
Higher Tower" is the scene of one of Krakow's more
enduring traditions, the hejnal. Every hour on
the hour a member of a special section of the local fire
brigade plays a short, simple bugle tune from the top of
the tower; the tune is played 4 times, to each point of
the compass and can be heard from most of the city
centre. Legend has it that the tradition dates back to
the 13th century and commemorates a local watchman; the
point where the hejnal ends rather abruptly is
supposed to represent the point at which he was shot
through the neck by Tartar raiders. Whether true or not
(and to shoot someone playing the bugle from the top of
an 80 metre tower would have taken a hell of a shot),
it's a nice story and a charming tradition, although
possibly not quite so charming if you've got a hotel on
the square and keep getting woken up by the bugger every
night (it's played 24 hours a day).

Inside the church is
even more stunning than the outside. If you go in the
through the main entrance at the front of the admission
is free, but this doesn't allow access to the Presbytery
(although you can still see it from a distance). It's
definitely worth paying the small fee (4zl) to enter
through the door in the south side which gives full
access to the church. Quite simply the interior is
breathtaking, every inch seems to be covered in some kind
of decoration; a combination of the 14th century stained
glass, richly painted walls and ceiling, extravagant
statues and tombs, wooden carving, and plenty of
gold-gilding make it hard to take everything in. The
undoubted highlight though is the High Altar a
huge (43 by 36 feet) piece of incredibly detailed
medieval carving that took its German creator, Veit
Stoss, 12 years of his life to complete. The results were
worth it though, and you can spend hours contemplating
it. The interior of St Mary's is undoubtedly one of the
highlights of Krakow.

Standing in the shadow
of St Mary's on Plac Mariacki, St Barbara's
Church (Kosciol Sw Barbary) slightly to the
south-east is easy to overlook, but it's also worth a
visit; it has a nice collection of sculptures on the
outside next to the main entrance, and an impressive set
of frescoes and paintings inside. It was supposedly built
with bricks left over from the building of St Mary's.

The final and smallest
church on the Rynek is the tiny St Adalbert's
(Kosciol sw. Wojciecha) which stands on its own at the
southern corner of the square. It dates from the 11th
century (supposedly built on the site of a pagan temple),
although it has been much altered since then. Its age is
apparent when you look at the church's original entrance
which is now nearly 2 metres below the current level of
the square. The church's attractive, uncluttered interior
is very small so try not to get stuck in there at the
same time as a large group of rotund German tourists.

The other free-standing
building in the Rynek in the Town Hall Tower
(Wieza Ratuszowa). The 70 metre high tower is all that
remains of the old Town Hall, the rest of which was
pulled down in the early 19th century. It could also be
known as "The Leaning Tower of Krakow", as it
is apparently slightly crooked, although nowhere near to
the same degree as the tower in Pisa. You can climb up
the tower for views of the Rynek which aren't really that
great as you're only allowed to look out of the window.
Probably more interesting are the various exhibits
inside, including a model of what the Town Hall looked
like before they pulled it down, and old photographs of
Krakow. In common with most other buildings in the Old
Town the vaults underneath the tower have been converted
into a cafe, although they once held the city's jail. The
clock-face on the tower looks pretty old, but the clock
itself is linked to an ultra-accurate atomic clock in
Germany (one of those that's accurate to a fraction of a
second every million years, which begs the question
"How the hell do they know?", or equally
"Who the hell cares?").

The spacious Rynek also
has room for the Adam Mickiewicz Monument
(Pomnik Adama Mickiewicza), a statue commemorating the
great 19th century Polish romantic poet. He's a national
hero in Poland so it'd be somewhat pedantic of me to
point out that he never actually set foot in Krakow (at
least not while he was alive; his remains are in Wawel
Cathedral). The statue had a miraculous escape in the
war; the monument was torn down by the Nazi's but the
statue was found intact on a German scrap-heap after the
war and was returned. North of the statue are a
collection of flower stalls (the Poles seem very keen on
their fresh flowers), all that remains of the market that
once covered the Rynek. Krakow's pigeons tend to
congregate in this area, and there are a couple of stalls
selling pigeon food, which is completely unnecessary as
the greedy buggers will mob you with or without it.
Surprisingly the entire Rynek is remarkably free of
pigeon shit. Along the northern edge of the square you'll
usually find a kind of taxi rank made up of up to a
couple of dozen horse-drawn carts waiting to take
romantic or rich tourists on a tour of the Old Town. On
Saturdays an antique market is held on the western side
of the Rynek; you have to pay to get in and browse, and
remember that you need official permission to export
anything from Poland made before 1945. Keep an eye out
for some of the buskers too, several of them are pretty
good, ranging from classical musicians to folk-music
groups. Our favourite was the fat bloke dressed in sheets
with his face covered in white make-up who stands on a
pedestal by the entrance to Plac Mariacki and mimics the
facial expressions of passers-by; he's very funny, give
him some money for a pie.

Perhaps the real reason
why the Rynek looks so attractive is the remarkable
collection of buildings that surrounds it. These are
mainly former town-houses, now for the most part
converted into shops and restaurants. Although most of
the houses appear to be renaissance in many cases these
are just facades concealing considerably older buildings.
Many are brightly painted, lots have ornamental
architectural decoration, and they all appear to have
been given a make-over relatively recently, As a result
although no two buildings are identical they stand
together very nicely.

Finally on the Rynek is
the Historical Museum of Krakow (Museum
Historyczne Krakowa) housed in the former Kryzysztofoty
Palace at Rynek Glowny 35, which includes paintings and
scale-models of old Krakow, as well as historical
documents and objects. It's closed on Monday, admission
is 4zl.

Several roads lead off
the Rynek. The main road to the north is ul.
Florianska, now highly commercialised and almost
completely consisting of shops, bars and restaurants (and
a very good kebab stall). There are a couple of museums
on this road though, the Museum of Pharmacy,
which is apparently more interesting than it sounds is it
at number 25. They have 18th century condoms! Actually, I
made that up, I've never actually been in there. Further
along at number 41 is the Jan Matejko House
(Dom Jana Matejki), the birthplace and subsequent
workshop of the 19th century painter. The house contains
some of his personal effects but to see his paintings
you'll need to go the National Museum in the Cloth Hall.

ul Florianska
eventually comes to an end at the Florian Gate
(Brama Florianska), the only one of the city's original
gates still surviving, built in the 13th century
(although the smell of piss as you walk through it is
probably more recent). As well as the gate there's a
section of the city's wall, complete with a few defensive
towers. The inside of the wall has now been turned into a
virtual art gallery by some of the cities artist, eager
to display and sell their work. Some of the stuff is
quite good but in olden times they could have hung some
of the paintings on the outside of the walls and it would
have repelled any attacker.

Just outside the
Florian Gate is another remnant of the cities defences,
the Barbican (Barbakan) a circular,
moated fort built in the 15th century to support and
protect the Florian Gate in case of attack.Its
attractive appearance is surprising in view of its
purpose. Normally you can have a look round this
building, including a tour of the parapets.

If you continue on
through the Florian Gate and past the Barbican you'll be
leaving the Old Town behind. The street you see directly
in front of you is Plac Matejki. The big statue in the
middle of the two carriageways in the Grunwald
Monument (Pomnik Grunwaldzki) originally put up
1910 to mark the 500th anniversary of the Battle of
Grunwald in which the Polish army trashed that of the
(German) Teutonic Knights. Not surprisingly the first
thing the Nazis did upon entering Krakow in 1939 was to
tear the original down (sore losers), but the Poles put
it back up again in the 1970s. At the top of Plac Matejki
is St Florian's Church, originally built
in the 12th century but badly damaged and rebuilt several
times since, the current structure is a mostly 17th
century affair.

Back to the Old Town.
There are numerous places of interest in the streets
around ul Florianska.

From the Florian Gate if you head west down Pijarska
you'll come to the early-18th century Piarist
Church (Kosciol Pijarow), also known as the
Church of the Lord's Transfiguration; it's baroque
exterior is not as impressive as some of Krakow's other
churches but it's well worth poking your head round
the door to have a look at the inside, which is
beautifully decorated with some bright, colourful
frescoes.

Just around the corner, on sw. Jana is possibly the
most extensive museum in Krakow, the Czartoryski
Museum (Muzeum Czartoryskich). This is another
section of the National Museum and contains a wide range
of exhibits, including Greek, Roman, and Egyptian
antiquities. The museum is best known though for its art
collection, the highlight of which is "Lady with
an Ermine" (it's like a ferret) by none other
than Leonardo da Vinci, which I thought was a more
interesting painting than his Mona Lisa, and without the
hordes of tourists you'd get in the Louvre you'll get the
chance have a good, long look at to decide for yourself.
There's also a very good Rembrandt ("Landscape
with the Good Samaritan"), but possibly my
favourite of the lot, a quite lovely Pieter Bruegel the
Younger landscape (actually a direct copy of one of his
father's paintings). As well as the paintings there's
plenty more to see, including collections of antique
weapons, the "Gallery of Ancient Art", which
includes Egyptian, Greek and Roman artefacts (but which
was closed while I was there), and lots of European arts
and crafts including glassware, porcelain, furniture,
carpets, silver, wooden carvings, and various religious
bits and bobs, something for just about everyone really.
If you want you can just skim through and take in the
highlights in an hour or so, but the museum is as good a
place as any in Krakow to spend a rainy afternoon if you
want to have a good look at everything. The museum is
closed on Mondays, admission is normally 9zl, although
cheap bastards will be pleased to hear that it's free on
Thursdays.

Continue down sw Jana towards the Rynek and you'll
pass the small St John's Church (Kosciol
sw Jana), founded in the 12th century; it has a nice
mural on the outside and the inside is pleasantly modest
and intimate.

If you head east a block down sw Tomasza and then
north-west up Szpitalna and you'll come to the Juliusz Slowacki Theatre,
built at the end of the 19th century. It's an impressive
great, big orangey building, covered in statues and
topped with a big, green copper dome. That description
doesn't really do it justice... The theatre has it's own website, so you
can check out what's on. If nothing takes your fancy it'd
be worth going in anyway to have a look at the opulent
decoration.

Tucked away behind the theatre is the Church
of the Holy Cross (sw. Krzyzy; what would that
be worth in Scrabble?). The church dates from the 14th
century and has a remarkable interior featuring one
supporting pillar that, with the vaults it supports, was
built to look like a palm tree, an early 15th century
bronze font, and 16th century frescoes, restored at the
end of the 19th century but still with some authentic
original fragments. The outside is a bit odd; one
end is made of brick while the other (older) end appears
to be built out of rough stone. I like the pointy brick
tower though.

If you really must see more churches from the Theatre
head west along sw Marka, and once you've crossed the
entire width of the Old Town (about 250 metres of it)
you'll come to St Mark's Church (Kosciol
sw Marka); notice how many of the streets in the Old Town
are named after the churches on them? Not very
imaginative, but it makes things easy, doesn't it? St
Mark's dates from the 13th century, although it's been
partially rebuilt a few times since. The statues on the
outside are modern replicas of the early 16th century
originals. Things of interest inside include a crucifix
that supposedly has the power to cause miracles, and a
heart-shaped pulpit. Sweet.

Close to St Marks (just over the road on Reformacka in
fact) is the Church of the Reformed Franciscans
(Kosciol Reformatow). What they were before they reformed
I cannot say. This austere 17th century church's most
interesting feature it's crypt, which holds several
mummified bodies. They weren't mummified on purpose,
something about the conditions in the crypt just makes it
happen. The crypts are usually off-limits to preserve the
bodies, so it's a bit pointless me mentioning it, but if
you ask someone inside the church nicely they may show
you around.

From here you can head back to the Rynek, sit down and
enjoy a beer or two, and then head off to have a look
around the rest of the Old Town.

To the west of the Rynek lies Krakow's main University
quarter. Krakow has a very large student population, and
the Jagiellonian University is the oldest in Poland, and
the second oldest in eastern/central Europe after
Prague's Charles University. Head northwest from the
Rynek down sw. Anny and then turn left onto Jagiellonska
and the fancy brick building you'll see is the Collegium
Maius (a college of the Jagiellonian University)
established in 1364 and numbering Nicholas Copernicus (or
Mikolaj Kopernik, to give him his Polish name) and Karol
Wojtyla (aka John Paul II) among its former students.
It's housed in a 15th century building (and British
Universities whinge about being in old buildings!), which
you can only have a look round as part of a guided tour.
The tour is well worth taking, and includes the library,
the College Treasury, which include the oldest scientific
instrument in Poland, an 11th century Moorish astrolabe
and the first surviving globe to feature the Americas
(made in 1510, America is marked as "newly
discovered"; unfortunately whoever made the globe
decided that America must be located around where
Australia is).

Newer items that have been donated to the
college include a Nobel prize for literature, an Oscar
and a Palme d'Or, and a photo of the Earth taken from the
Moon and signed by Neil Armstrong. There's a small room
devoted to Copernicus, which includes a copy of his entry
on the student register, copies of some of his books, and
some of his instruments (scientific ones, not a banjo or
anything like that). Other rooms hold things like antique
furniture, some of which belonged to Polish Kings, and a
collection of renaissance jelly molds (really!). The tour
finishes in the richly decorated main hall, which has
paintings of former rectors of the college and
distinguished former students, and an amazing door made
up of patterned wood.

If you don't fancy taking the tour (there are at least
a couple of tours a day in English, it lasts about half
an hour, and costs 12zl) you can pop into the courtyard
(which is free!) to have a look round; it looks very
nice, something like this is fact:

At the end of sw. Anny is St Anne's Church
(Kosciol sw Anny); this is the University Church, dating
from the end of the 17th century, where University
services are held and several old professors are buried,
including one who managed to get himself canonised; St
John Kanty. His lectures must have been bloody good....
The outside of the church is typical baroque, with it's
soaring, symetrical twin-towered facade, studded with
statues. The inside is astonishing, bright and airy with
lots of marble statues and carving, gold angels, and
frescoes on the ceiling and on the inside of the dome.

The main road heading south from the Rynek is
ul Grodzka, which runs to Wawel and forms part
of the Royal Way (basically the route the King took
during his coronation; it starts off at St Florian's
Church, mentioned above). There are several magnificent
churches either on ul Grodzka itself, or just off it.
Head down Grodzka until you reach the first crossroads.
From here you can either head right, along
Franciszkanska, which will bring you to the St Francis'
Basilica or left, along Dominikanska, which will bring
you to the Dominican Church.

St Francis' Basilica (Bazylika sw.
Franciszka) dates from the 13th century, although it has
been much altered and rebuilt since. The highlight is the
interior which was redecorated from scratch after a fire
in 1850. It boasts absolutely stunning Art Nouveau
stained glass windows (probably the best example is
"Let It Be", an image of God creating
light, which is over the main East entrance), designed by
Stanislaw Wyspianski, who was also responsible for the
hippy-like floral frescoes, and border-line psychadelic
colur scheme on the walls. Definitely the most colourful
church in Krakow. There's an attached Franciscan
Monastery (although for some reason you'll see far more
nuns than monks in Krakow....).

The Dominican Church (Kosciol
Dominikanow), also known as the Basilica of the Holy
Trinity dates from the 13th century, although most of it
was destroyed in the same fire that trashed St Francis'
in 1850. You'd have thought that there might have been
some kind of divine intervention to prevent that kind of
thing. Although most of the current building,
including its towering front facade, dates from the late
19th century some older bits did survive the fire,
particularly some of the smaller chapels. Head upstairs
to St Hyacinthus' Chapel; St Hyacinthus
was Poland's first Dominican monk and this chapel was
once his cell. He must have liked this room so much that
they decided to bury him in here too; that marble coffin
is his. If you're in need of a miracle for whatever
reason head for the Chapel of Our Lady of The
Rosary; the painting in here is one of the many
relics in Krakow reputed to have miraculous powers. Not
miraculous enough to put fires out though, it would seem.
The church contains many side-chapels and tombs of
Krakovian aristos, and monk-spotters will be pleased to
learn that there's a monastery attached to this church
too. Given the church's previous unfortunate run-ins with
flames, having so many wooden altars inside seems to be
tempting fate..... Maybe it's a holy insurance scam.

The next church you reach on ul Grodzka has possibly
the most impressive exterior of any in Krakow. On the
wall outside Sts Peter & Paul's Church
(Kosciol sw. Piotra i Pawla) are larger than life statues
of the 12 Apostles (actually replicas of the 18th century
originals, which can now be seen in the yard to the side
of the Church). There are further sculptures in the white
facade of the 16th century Church, which conceals the red
brick building behind, and the whole thing is topped by a
big dome. The interior is somewhat austere, mostly plain
white walls with some bits of baroque decoration. The
carvings on the inside of the dome are a particular
highlight though. You can pay 5zl for access to the crypt
which contains the tomb of one Piotr Skarga, a 16th
century Jesuit priest; from what I've read he wasn't an
entirely admirable chap, for example taking time to moan
about "the sin of tolerance". Unless you're in
some way related to Skarga, or are a crypt-fetishist,
it's not worth it as there's not much to see. The church
sometimes holds a demonstration of Foucault's Pendulum.
Seeing as though the purpose of the internet in general
(although not this site specifically) is to educate and
inform I'll bore you with a quick description of its
significance. Basically you take a pendulum and fix it to
the inside of the dome. Below the pendulum is a clock
face. When you start the pendulum swinging it swings on a
determined path, say between 12 and 6 on the clock face.
As time passes the pendulum starts following a different
line, say between 1 and 7. The pendulum is still swinging
from the same fixed point, so the reason for apparent
change in direction is that the ground beneath the
pendulum, and in turn the clock face, has moved. In other
(much shorter) words, it's a demonstration of the earth's
rotation. Well there, you've learned something useful
from this site, wasn't it reading through all that crap
first? You can stay and watch Foucault's Pendulum in
action at the church, but as the explanation is in
Polish, and as it takes at least an hour before you start
to notice anything happening you may conclude that you
have better things to do. For those in a hurry I've come
up with own version of this experiment; stand in a fixed
spot while drinking a bottle of vodka; in no time at all
you'll be witnessing first-hand the earth's rotation.

Next door to St Peter & Paul's is one of Krakow's
oldest Churches, St Andrew's (Kosciol sw
Andrezja). Nice of them to name a Church after a golf
course. The building is in the Romanesque style and was
built in the late 11th century. You can guess that it's a
lot older than its present appearance suggests by the
number of bricked up old windows and doors. Unfortunately
very little of the original interior decoration or
furnishings have survived, and what you see today is the
result of an 18th century Baroque redecoration, a kind of
18th century "Changing Rooms". The pulpit in
the shape of a boat is quite fun though.

At the very end of Grodzka, in the shadow of Wawel
Castle, is St Giles' Church (Kosciol sw
Idziego). It was founded in the 11th century, although
the present building is mostly 14th century, with some
later renovations. Outside there is a simple cross
commemorating the Katyn forest massacre.

From the end of ul Grodzka you could head south east
on Stradomska which will take you to Kazimierz. Or you
could climb up Wawel Hill, which stands opposite you. Or
you could turn right and take a quick detour down
Idziego; if you do this the next road on your right is
Kanonicza, and it's well worth taking a stroll down
there.

Kanonicza is one of the
most attractive streets in the Old Town; most of the
buildings have been thoroughly renovated (and those that
haven't are in the process of being done-up); the
brightly painted and richly decorated buildings, with the
castle and cathedral looming above is one of the most
attractive sights in the city. There are a couple of
museums on Kanonicza. The Archdiocesan Museum
(Muzeum Archidiecezjalne) is at number 19; this holds a
collection of religious and sacred art, and also a
collection of exhibits relating to John Paul II, who used
to live in this building. At number 9 is the Stanislaw
Wyspianski Museum (Muzeum Wyspianskiego). Those
who have been paying attention will know that Stanslaw
Wyspianski was responsible for the stained glass windows
in St Francis' Basilica, but this all-round
renaissance-man was also a painter, playwright, and poet.
He turned into a bit of a window-licker towards the end
of his short life, designing glass windows depicting
royal corpses for Wawel Cathedral (not surprisingly these
designs weren't adopted). The museum features sketches,
designs, and models of his work.

Wawel is a low hill overlooking the
Vistula. It was for over 500 years the centre of Royal
life and Government in Poland. Krakow Castle, Royal
Palace and Cathedral all stand on Wawel Hill, and all can
be visited.

There are a couple of ways of getting up the hill.
There's a path that runs up to the north entrance that
starts opposite the end of Kanonicza, or there's a
slightly longer path (Droga do Zamku) that curls round
the southern side of the hill which starts off from Plac
Bernardynski, at the end of ul Grodzka. This is the way
we went, so I'll describe everything as you see it from
that direction. If you go up the other route read this
section backwards. The first thing that you'll notice is
some of the castle towers... erm, towering over you (Senator's
Tower and Sandomierska Tower,
to be exact). I liked the 3 toilets that you can see
running down the outside of the tower, sensibly staggered
horizontally to avoid having to crap on the one below.
The road also takes you around the defensive ramparts,
which gives you nice views out over the Vistula. At the
end of the road is the ivy-covered Thieves' Tower,
one of the castle's defensive towers which now holds a
souvenir stall. As souvenir stalls go it's pretty
impressive. As are the views out over the Vistula.

Although a castle has stood on Wawel Hill for just
about 1,000 years what you see there today dates mostly
from the early 16th century, although some considerably
older elements are still evident, as is a vast array of
different architectural styles. Considerable damage was
caused by an Austrian "modernisation" programme
in the 18th and 19th centuries, (the buggers did the same
thing to Prague Castle), but once the Poles got their
hands on the castle again in 1918 they set about
restoring it to its former appearance. Today the castle
is divided up into 5 separate exhibitions, each of which
needs a ticket to get into. Tickets for each exhibition
are available from the ticket office in the visitors'
centre which you'll find at the southern edge of Wawel,
(slightly south east of the Thieves Tower). Most of the
exhibitions are closed on Mondays, and there are only a
limited number of tickets sold every day to avoid
over-crowding. You can find more information here.

The visitors' centre also holds a souvenir shop, post
office (a great place to send your postcards from as I
think it has its own special franking machine), a tourist
information centre, and a restaurant which in the summer
has an outdoor terrace where you can sit outside drinking
beer taking in the great views of Kazimierz.

The lawn and gardens between the visitors centre and
the cathedral is the site of a couple of old churches, St
Georges's and St Michaels, that were pulled down by the
Austrians (bastards!); you can quite easily make out
what's left of the foundations.

The section of the castle nearest the ticket office is
Lost Wawel. To get to it from the
Thieves Tower you need to head along the path that leads
towards the Cathedral and then turn right at the end of
the gardens on your right-hand side. Or, to put it in
simpler terms, head for the snack-bar (in summer). All
the exhibitions are fairly well sign-posted in any event.
The Lost Wawel exhibition details some of the oldest
parts of the castle, many of which are hidden away out if
plain view, including remains of what's thought to be the
oldest church in Krakow, the Rotunda of the Virgin Mary
(these remains were in a significantly better state of
repair until those dastardly Austrians got their hands on
them), computer simulations of what the castle would have
looked like previously. There's also a selection of finds
that were..... erm, found during archaeological digs and
restoration work on the castle.

From here head back towards the Cathedral, turning
right going along the side of it and through the arch
ahead of you. This brings you out in the castle
courtyard, which is one of the most attractive
buildings in Krakow. On three sides is a 3 storey palace,
the bottom two levels have arched and vaulted galleries
that look like some kind of Roman villa. The top floor
also has an arcade, but this one has graceful pillars.
Along the southern and part of western top level there's
also a series of painting; as most of them appear to be
portraits they may be of Kings of Poland. Then again,
they could be of anyone. And don't miss the waterspouts
in the shape of dragon heads. Basically, it's a stunning
building but, as they say, a picture speaks a thousand
words (although many of mine speak less than that), so
here goes:

Told you.

The other four castle exhibitions are off this
courtyard. The Oriental Art section
doesn't really have that much to do with Poland. There's
a collection of Chinese and Japanese objects, and a large
amount of Turkish loot captured at the Battle of Vienna
(in 1683 the Polish army under King John Sobieski
defeated the Turkish army that was besieging Vienna,
possibly saving western Europe from Muslim conquest),
including weapons, armour, banners, and a tent. The State
Rooms and Royal Private Apartments
share the same entrance, but you have to pay twice to see
them both. Highlights of these two include a large
collection of 16th century tapestries, the old Throne
Room, and the Senators Hall. Most of the rooms have been
done up to look how they would have when the Polish Kings
were in residence, complete with authentic period
furniture and decoration. The final section of the castle
museum is the Crown Treasury and Armoury.
This has a wide variety of precious objects, include the
jagged sword that used to be used in Polish Coronations,
yet more Turkish booty (and some presents from the Turks,
given when a peace treaty was signed after the battle of
Vienna), and a dazzling selection of precious stones and
metal. The Armoury part contains a huge collection of
weapons, ranging from swords and various gruesome pointy
things through to some exquisite guns and muskets (you'd
almost feel privileged to be shot by some of them) and
some very big cannon. There are plenty of suits of armour
too, although it's hard to see how it would have had a
chance of standing up to any of the weapons on display.
One for the boys, this section!

The current Wawel Cathedral
(dedicated to Sts Stanislaus and Wenceslas) is reckoned
to be the third church on this site. Work on the current
building was started in the early 14th century and was
completed in 1364, although there have been numerous
alterations and additions since then, not least of which
are the numerous side chapels, which give the exterior of
the Cathedral its somewhat chaotic appearance. Remnants
of the first church on the site, the 11th century St
Gereon's Church, have been found under the present
Cathedral, and the St Leonard's crypt and part of the
south tower of the Cathedral buildings are remnants of
the second church, the late 11th century Herman's
Cathedral. As well as being an important religious centre
the Cathedral had political significance too; even after
the Polish capital was moved to Warsaw in 1596 Polish
Kings continued to be crowned at Wawel. Many of them are
also buried here. This tradition continued even into the
20th century with many Polish national heroes being
buried here. I imagine they had a spot reserved for John
Paul II?

The exterior of the Cathedral is somewhat eclectic.
There are 3 towers, all of differing heights, and all
with different ornamental spires. The main facade of the
Cathedral is lined with limestone, the other walls are or
brick. Most of the side chapels have a verdigried copper
roof, whereas one, the Sigismund Chapel, has a burnished
roof. Despite this it's undoubtedly an attractive and
impressive building. It seems a strange thing to say, but
I particularly liked the clock face....

It's free to get into the Cathedral and have a look
round but if you want to climb up the bell tower and have
a look around the crypts, which I recommend you do,
you're going to have to buy a ticket. The ticket office
is in the Vicar's House, opposite the Cathedral's main
entrance. When we went in the tickets were being dished
out by nuns; nice to see someone's found a use for them.
As you go in through the main front door keep an eye out
for the huge bones suspended from the wall on your left;
according to legend they're the bones of giants, and if
the chains holding them up snap it's a sign that the
world's about to end. Boring scientists claim the bones
are more likely to be those of a mammoth, or a rhino, but
I reckon that they should invest in some thicker chains,
just in case...

The inside of the Cathedral somewhat matches the
outside; there's a chaotic array of over 600 year's worth
of architectural and decorative styles, and so many
chapels, tombs, memorials and altars that the place feels
cluttered. Still, what it lacks in harmony it more than
makes up for in historical significance. The tombs and
memorials of no less than 8 Polish Kings are in the main
body of the Cathedral or its side chapels (there are more
of them in the crypts). Many of them are beautifully
carved, particularly impressive being the red marble
effigy of Casimir the Great, the early 20th century
effigy of Ladislaus III, and probably most impressive of
the lot, the multicoloured marble tomb of Casimir IV (the
work of Veit Stoss, who the observant will remember was
responsible for the altarpiece of St Mary's Basilica).
The Cathedral is the finest collection of 15th to 17th
century sculpture in Poland.

There are far too many things of interest inside the
Cathedral to mention on a crap site such as this, the
best way to experience the place is just to wander round
and try and soak in the atmosphere (if you can avoid the
tour groups), and buy a copy of the well-illustrated
guidebook that the nuns in the ticket office will try to
flog you. There are a few things you definitely shouldn't
miss though. Queen Sophia's Chapel,
which is to the left of the front door has colourful
frescoes and stained glass. The Holy Cross Chapel,
on the right hand side, dates back to the 15th century
and has some original, 600-year-old frescoes. The Sigismund
Chapel in the south wall is possibly the
highlight of the Cathedral. It has an abundance of
statues, red marble, and the tombs of several Kings.
Funnily enough 2 of them are called Sigismund. In the
north-eastern corner of the Cathedral is a 14th century
gothic crucifix, reputed to have miraculous powers,
underneath which is an altar holding the relics of St
Queen Jadwiga. Probably the hardest thing to miss in the
Cathedral, partly because it's sitting right in front of
you as you come in, partly because it's bloody huge, and
partly because it's covered in silver is the Altar
of St Stanislaus. Stanislaus was an 11th century
Bishop of Krakow, killed in 1079 by Poland's King,
Boleslaus the Bountiful (I guess his bounty didn't extend
to Bishops). Never a good idea, killing a bishop. Bad
luck followed Polish Kings for a while after that (told
you), and Stanislaus was eventually canonised and made
Poland's patron Saint. The Crypt of the National
Poets is free to get into; only 2 of them are
buried down there (Mickiewicz - his statue is in the
Rynek, remember? - and Slowacki) and there's not much
room for anyone else.

Right, those cheapskates who didn't pay for a ticket
to get in can skip the next couple of paragraphs. If you
do have a ticket it allows you to climb up the bell
tower, the Sigismund Tower. It's a
difficult climb, not that high but you'll be climbing up
through the bells, with narrow, steep stairs, and at some
points you're actually climbing through joints in the
carpentry, which is a ridiculously tight squeeze. Still,
if I made it up most people should be able to manage. At
the end of your climb you'll find yourself
face-to-clapper with the biggest bell in Poland, the 11
ton "Sigismund". Apparently the bell can be
heard over 30 miles away (when they ring it, obviously)
so be grateful you're not up there when it goes off. The
last time it was rung was to mark the death of John Paul
II. The climb down is not as difficult as getting up, and
you get some excellent views out over the Old Town on the
way.

Your ticket also allows you to enter the crypts,
the oldest part of the Cathedral. Several Polish Kings
and Queens are buried down here, as are assorted other
members of the Royal family, and a few other Polish
National heroes, including Wladyslaw Sikorski (the Polish
leader during WW2, a sort of Polish de Gaulle only nicer
and without such a big nose), Jozef Poniatowski (who was
a General under Napoleon Boneparte), Tadeusz Kosciuszko
(who managed to fight for both Polish independence and in
the American War of Independence), and Jozef Pilsudski
(the man who arguably saved Europe from Bolshevik
Communism in 1918 when he beat Stalin's Red Army in
"The Miracle on the Vistula"). After wandering
round the crypts for a while you'll emerge blinking into
the sunlight outside the Cathedral.

If you haven't had enough sightseeing yet you could
have a look in the Cathedral Museum,
which includes coronation robes and paraphernalia, and
other religious bits and bobs. From here you can leave
Wawel through the north entrance (or, in this case, exit)
the Vasa Gate. If you go this way you'll
notice a big statue of a man on horseback standing in the
shadow of the Cathedral. This is a monument to
Tadeusz Kosciuszko, who's buried in the
Cathedral crypt. The path from the Vasa Gate runs down
the north side of the hill and deposits you on Podzamce,
just opposite Kanonicza.

There is an alternative and more fun way of leaving
Wawel, and that is to through the Dragon's Lair.
The entrance to this is in a little turret in the
castle's outer walls where they look out over the Vistula
(more or less next to the Thieves' Tower); you have to
buy your ticket from the machine, which is fairly
straightforward and has instructions in English. You then
get to go down a low spiral staircase (I kept banging my
head and it bloody hurt!) until you find yourself in the
Dragon's cave: Basically, there's a series of caves under
Wawel Hill (hardly surprising as the hill is limestone),
which according to legend was the home of the Krakow
Dragon. The dragon had terrorised the city for a while
until an enterprising shoe maker tricked it into eating a
dead sheep stuffed with sulphur and tar, causing it to
explode (a trick that could be replicated nowadays by
feeding it a vindaloo). As in the best fairy tale
traditions the shoe-maker got to marry the princess, and
the dragon became the symbol of the city, as you can tell
by his appearance on t-shirts and tourist tat stalls. In
the past the caves have housed such attractions as a pub
and a brothel; nowadays only a small section of the caves
is open to the public, and there's nothing much to see,
although it's atmospheric enough as caves go. The
entrance to the cave (or its exit, in this case) is by
the path along the Vistula, and when you emerge there's a
modern sculpture of the dragon, which every couple of
minutes breathes out a short gust of flames. They should
put it in the Rynek and sell barbecued pigeon. The statue
isn't that big, but the shooting flames made a few small
children scream. Or maybe they were screaming because
they'd seen the Scotsman.....

The banks of the Vistula haven't been developed in
this area, but there are paths along the river banks and
a small park, and it's a pleasant enough place for a
stroll, or to watch the old men playing chess. In summer
you can also take cruises along the river, or hire a
pedal boat, if you're feeling adventurous.

From Wawel it's a 10 minute walk to Kazimierz,
south-east along Stadomska. On the way there are a couple
of churches you can have a look at. First is the enormous
Bernardine Church (Kosciol Bernardynow),
just to the south of Wawel hill. This was built in the
late 17th century, although elements of an older church
on the same site survive, it has a beautifully
proportioned, symmetrical exterior, the interior is
typical extravagant, over-the-top gothic decoration. A
little further down the road is the early 18th century Missionaries
Church (Kosciol misjonarzy). This doesn't look
too impressive from the outside, a bit grey compared to
some of Krakow's other churches, but it's worth having a
peep inside for the paintings on the ceiling, and the
mirrors that are alos up there which give a surprisingly
light and airy atmosphere. Once you've crossed the
dual-carriageway, Dietla, you're in Kazimierz.

Up until 1800 Kazimierz was actually
a town in its own right, separately administered than
Krakow. It had long been the home of Krakow's Jews,
particularly after their expulsion from Krakow itself in
1494, and by the time of the Nazi occupation there were
an estimated 65,000 Jews living in Krakow, mostly in
Kazimierz, almost a quarter of Krakow's population. Less
than 1 in 10 of them survived by 1945. After the war the
area lost its Jewish character, although many of the
buildings survived, and was basically left to rot away as
another dodgy, dingy suburb. Ironically it was a film
about the destruction of Krakow's Jews (Steven Spielberg
filmed Schindler's List mostly in Kazimierz) that marked
a turning point in the areas fortunes. The Jewish
heritage was slowly rediscovered, money was poured in and
buildings renovated. Today there is a well defined Jewish
heritage trail; each site has a plaque outside giving a
short description, and a map on to the next site. It's so
well marked that even the Scotsman and myself managed to
follow it in the pissing rain without getting lost. Well,
apart from when we tried to find the New Cemetery.

The starting point is the Tempel Synagogue
at ul. Miodowa 24. The late 19th century building is the
newest of Kazimierz's surviving synagogue. The interior
has just been thoroughly renovated and has some
marvellous stained-glass windows, painted walls, lots of
gold-leaf and carved wood. It's well worth paying 5zl to
get inside and have a look round. The next stop on the
tour is around the corner on Warszauera you can see one
of the exterior walls of the 17th century Kupa
Synagogue. It is no longer in use and is closed
to the public.

From Warszauera turn right down Kupa which brings you
to Isaac's Synagogue (Synagoga Isaaka).
This mid 17th century is undergoing a thorough renovation
after decades of neglect. Inside fragments of the
original paintings have been preserved on the walls. The
are still holes in the floor where more bits of religious
furniture (the bimah and stairs to the ark) are due to be
fitted. There is also a museum showing photographs and
films detailing Jewish life in Poland and Krakow before
the war. Entrance to the synagogue and museum costs 7zl.

Heading south down Jakuba and then east along Jozefa
takes you to the mid-16th century High Synagogue
(Boznica Wysoka). This now houses a display of photos
chronicling Jewish life in Krakow before the war, what
happened to some of the survivors of the Holocaust after
the war (very few remained in Poland), and a few photos
about Oscar Schindler and some of those he helped to
save. Inside the synagogue is bright and airy (the main
hall of the synagogue is on the first floor), and some
fragments of the original wall decoration have survived.

From here head north up Bartosza which brings you to ul
Szeroka, once the Jewish flea-market and now the
centre of Jewish Kazimierz.

The most important and impressive building on ul
Szeroka is the Old Synagogue (Stara
Synagoga). As its name suggests this is the oldest
synagogue in Krakow, in fact the oldest in Poland. The
building dates from the mid 15th century, although there
have been many renovations and alterations since. The
building just about survived the war, and in the 1960s,
after a long restoration project, it was opened as part
of the Historical Museum of Krakow, detailing the history
and culture of Jewish Krakow, a role it has kept until
the present day. The museum (all exhibits are described
in Polish, English, and Yiddish) has a lot of information
and artefacts relating to the Jewish religion, beliefs,
and cultural, as well as photos and information relating
to the Jewish community in Krakow in particular. It's
very informative but, gentlemen, don't forget to wince
when you how blunt the ritual circumcision knife is.

Running alongside the Old Synagogue is a stretch of
Kazimierz's old defensive walls.

Also on ul Szeroka is another former synagogue
(Popper's Synagogue at number 16, now an arts centre), a
couple of Kosher restaurants, a Jewish hotel, and a
bookshop. Also here is Krakow's most active synagogue,
the Remuh Synagogue at number 40. For
5zl you can have a look inside the 16th century synagogue
itself, which is nice enough (the decorative panels on
the bimah are probably the highlight), and also
have a wander round the attached cemetery. The cemetery,
which was used for burials from the 16th to the 19th
centuries, was badly damaged during WWII when the Nazis
used it as a rubbish tip, smashing most of the
gravestones in the process. Many of the fragments have
been embedded in the graveyard wall, turning it into a
sort of giant mosaic. During restoration work in the
1960s a great many gravestones were found buried,
believed to have been hidden in the 19th century to
protect them from the Austrians who were then occupying
the city. These were restored and are what you now see in
the cemetery.

Once the Remuh Cemetery fell out of use in 1800 Jewish
burials switched to the imaginatively-named New
Cemetery (Cmentarz Zydowski). This at the
eastern end of Miodowa, under the small railway bridge.
This huge cemetery is still use, and many of the graves
have fresh flowers or candles on them. Perhaps most
moving are the graves dedicated to entire families who
were wiped out in the concentration camps.

Kazimierz was never exclusively Jewish,
and there are a handful of churches in the area too.
First up is Corpus Christi (Kosciol
Bozego Ciala) at the corner of sw Wawrzynca and Bozego
Ciala. Work on this church started in 1340 and lasted
well into the next century, hardly surprising as it's
bloody huge, a red brick building with a typical stepped
facade, studded with little turrets, and with a massive
tower that can be seen from just about anywhere in
Kazimierz. Inside it's amazing, the ceiling seems
impossibly high, and even on a cold day it was very cold
and clammy. The main altar is huge, stretching all the
way up to the roof, and there are plenty of statues,
paintings, stained glass and carvings to take in; the
organ loft and choir stalls are remarkable, but my
favourite touch was the pulpit shaped like a little boat.
The ceiling and the top half of the church have been left
more or less undecorated, giving a sort of serene feel to
the place. Even in a city with as many fine churches as
Krakow, this one really stands out.

OK, one last church. You'll find the Paulite
Church (Kosciol Paulinow Na Skalce), also known
as The Church on the Rock at the end of Skaleczna (or
Paulinska), by the Vistula. If you've been paying
attention you'll remember that in 1079 (I don't expect
you to remember what happened in 1079, it's just that I
mentioned it earlier on) King Boleslaus the Bountiful
killed his Bishop Stanislaus, and as is often the way
when that type of thing happens, bad things started
happening to the King, and the Kings who followed him.
After he'd killed the Bishop the King and some of his
knights (this is starting to sound like a game of
chess...) threw what was left of him in a nearby pond.
The pond soon became known for its miraculous properties
(causing the blind to see, and that type of thing). The
pond is still there, although it now looks more like a
swimming pool, with a statue of the Saint in the middle
of it. Water from the pool bubbles out of a little
drinking fountain; a sign says that this is a holy water;
I don't know about that but I caught a distinct pong of
sewage coming from it.

The church is where successive Polish
Kings came to try and atone for what their predecessor
had done. The present building, a typical white,
twin-towered baroque affair dates from the early 18th
century, and is at least the third building to have stood
on this site. Its height (it's built on a rocky outcrop,
hence it's name) gives it a more striking appearance that
it would otherwise have had. Unfortunately it was locked
when I tried to visit, so I didn't get to have a look
inside (a shame as the very tree trunk on which the King
beheaded the Bishop is supposed to be in there). What I
did get to see was the crypt under the church; the vaults
are surprisingly cheerfully decorated, and several
eminent Poles are interred here including Stanislaw
Wyspianski and the composer Karol Szymanowski.